Facebook buys 750 IBM patents as lawsuits mount

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Brian Womack

Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 23, 2012

Facebook acquired 750 patents from International Business Machines, adding intellectual property that may help it counter allegations of patent infringement, a person with knowledge of the transaction said.

The patents cover various technologies such as software and networking, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn't been made public. The acquisition would swell the size of Facebook's portfolio, which includes at least 56 issued patents and 503 filed U.S. patent applications.

Facebook, the world's biggest social-networking service, is bolstering its legal defenses as the company squares off against rivals with more intellectual property. Yahoo filed suit against Facebook earlier this month, accusing it of infringing patents covering functions critical to websites. Facebook had 22 patent suits against it last year, according to LegalMetric.com.

The Yahoo suit involves patents covering Internet advertising, information sharing and privacy. Sunnyvale's Yahoo asked for an order barring Facebook from infringing the 10 patents and is seeking triple damages.

Facebook, which filed for an initial public offering last month, also had 33 corresponding patents and 149 filed applications in foreign countries as of the end of last year, according to the IPO filing. The Menlo Park company is seeking to raise $5 billion in the offering, making it the largest Internet IPO on record.

IBM, meanwhile, has been offering portions of its patent hoard to Internet companies. The computer-services giant has made a series of intellectual- property deals with Google Inc. over the past year.

IBM continues to add to its patent trove, receiving 6,180 new patents last year. The company has topped the list of U.S. patent recipients for 19 straight years.